In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of taking God's word seriously and not just treating it as a mere book. He encourages Christians to rejoice in the Lord always and to daily take up their cross. The speaker also highlights the need for believers to have a genuine inner life that flows out in blessing to others. He uses the analogy of a well, explaining that just as a well satisfies one's water needs, the Holy Spirit satisfies our spiritual needs and gives us something within. The sermon concludes with a reminder that it is the inner life that truly matters, not external gifts or appearances.

In our last session I mentioned that one of the first things you need to decide if you want to live an overcoming life is to take God's word seriously, take the commands of Jesus seriously, not as things to be kept occasionally. Even the Old Testament Israelites never took the Ten Commandments as suggestions. They were not suggestions. They were not ten suggestions, they were ten commandments. And they took them seriously. And I find that most Christians don't take the commands of Jesus seriously, it's absolutely essential. If we don't take the commandments of Jesus seriously we will live a very superficial Christian life. And not just the commands of Jesus, the commands of the Holy Spirit, by the commands of Jesus I mean all that He taught in the Gospels, by the commands of the Holy Spirit I mean all that is written in the rest of the New Testament, in the Epistles, where Jesus told His disciples, I have yet many things to say to you, He told them, but you can't bear them now, but when the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth has come, He will lead you into all the truth. And there were many other things which we find in the New Testament, like rejoice in the Lord always. If I take it seriously, I remember the time in my life when I took that little commandment, Philippians 4.4, seriously, just a few words, rejoice in the Lord always, five words. I don't know how many Christians have taken those five words of scripture seriously. For years, for more than 16, 20 years of my life, I never took that seriously. But when I decided to take it seriously, I began to experience it little by little by little by little by little by little, it was like climbing a mountain. It didn't happen overnight, but I began to experience it. And I want to say to you, whenever, when you begin to take God's word seriously, Lord, I believe you meant what you said. Don't just glory in saying the Bible is God's word. I find so many Christians who are arguing about a version, but I don't care which version you've got, every version says you've got to rejoice in the Lord always. Every version says you've got to take up the cross every day. It's no use glorying in a version. This is the version I believe is God's word. If you're not keeping what's written in it, that's more important. So that's number one. The other thing I want to say is, once you take God's word seriously, the next step is to acknowledge that you're not living at that level. You know, when I see a command, like, do not be anxious or rejoice in the Lord always, it's a very high standard. And here I find my level is down here, and I have two options. One is to somehow twist that scripture and make it mean what I'm living at, or leave it there and say, Lord, I'm not there yet. Honesty. When you get angry because somebody hurt you, don't call it righteous indignation or some holy name like that. You'll never get victory. I'll tell you that. Call it anger. When you lust after a woman, don't say, well, I was admiring her beauty. No, call it by the dirtiest, filthiest name you can think of. That was sin. That was adultery. You'll get victory. Otherwise, you'll keep on admiring these beautiful creatures of God and live in sin. Call it by its name and say, Lord, this is your standard. I haven't got there. But the third thing is to say, I want to get there. That's faith. And I believe that you will help me. So there's, first of all, taking God's word seriously, second, acknowledging that I haven't got there, and then third, believing that God will help me. Merely taking God's word seriously and merely acknowledging our failure will still make us live at the same level. But if you can add faith to that, Lord, I believe that what you have commanded, you will enable me to live by. I mean, if it takes time, it takes time. I remember when I started praying to be filled, to be baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, I said, Lord, if it takes me 10 years, I'm going to get there. But I don't want any cheap counterfeit. I don't want to go to some meeting and somebody lay hands on me and get some cheap counterfeit and go and say, I got it. This is what a lot of people are doing today. They go to a church where everybody expects them to speak in tongues. Okay. So they know that as long as I don't speak in tongues, I'm not accepted in this club. So somehow they manipulate something and they say, okay, I joined the club. Is that what you're interested in? I'm not interested in joining any club, I'll tell you that. I want God's best and I want that which is genuine. If you come to God like that and say, Lord, I don't want a counterfeit. I want the real thing. Then you will get the real thing. I want to show you a very humorous illustration of that. The Bible is full of humor. If you didn't see it, let me show it to you right in the beginning of scripture. Genesis chapter two. Genesis chapter two. God made a man, Adam. And it says here the Lord made verse 19, Genesis 2, 19. It also made the beasts of the field in the earlier part of the day. I hope you know that the animals and men were both made on the sixth day. The animals, the first part of the day and the man in the latter part of the day. And then God brought the animals, it says in Genesis 2, 19. To Adam and even the birds and told Adam, give a name to all of these. And he did that and he gave names, verse 20, to the cattle, to the birds. And then listen to this and to every beast. But for Adam, there was not found a helper suitable for him. Why does that sentence come at the end of that? Why is it linked to Adam watching all the animals going by? He watched the pigs and he said, no, I don't want a pig. I don't want to marry a pig. And the dog, this was a little better. I don't want a dog. No. Maybe the lion, lioness. No. And at the end, all these beautiful ones, the peacock, perhaps the peahen. No, I don't want that either. No, no, no, no, no. No, no. Lord, I want the real thing. God said, okay, I'll put you to sleep. And he gave him Eve. Imagine if he was satisfied with one of those animals. Now I'm applying that to you're getting satisfied with something less than what God has for you. That's what I mean. Some cheap counterfeit, which God never intended for you to be satisfied with. Say, Lord, I want the real thing and he'll allow you to see one counterfeit, another counterfeit, another counterfeit and I'll tell you there are thousands of counterfeits in the world today of the ministry of the Holy Spirit like those thousands of animals who went by Adam. Now the question is, will you say, Oh, Lord, this is okay, this is better than that one. I'll take the peahen or the lioness, don't. God has got something better for you, he's got the best. That's how I went to God and I said, Lord, I went to different groups and I was not satisfied with what I saw there because I found what they call the Holy Spirit wasn't really making people holy and, you know, evil spirits make evil people evil, you know that. What kind of Holy Spirit makes people holy? It's simple logic, but people don't seem to understand that. So I turned away from all that and I said, Lord, I want what Peter, James and John got on the day of Pentecost and if it takes me 10 years to get it, I'll wait. If it takes me 20 years, I'll wait. But I want the real thing. If it takes, like Adam would say, if it takes me 20 years to get a wife according to what I should have, I'll wait. If I have to go to sleep for 20 years, I'll wait for 20 years. But I'm not going to be satisfied with these animals. So I want you to take that position, say, Lord, I am willing to wait, but I will not be satisfied with the counterfeit. I want the real thing which you give me. God himself gave Adam, Eve, and Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to his disciples on the day of Pentecost. And I believe he will give us if we come to him and say, Lord, I don't want to just join a club. I don't want to find acceptance in a church. I don't want to glory that, yeah, I'm filled with the Holy Spirit. I don't want any of that. That's all for the honor of men. I'm not interested. I want God to be convinced that I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, not you to be convinced. I couldn't care less whether you think I'm filled with the Holy Spirit or not. It doesn't make the slightest difference to me, I'll tell you that. You can think I'm carnal, it makes no difference to me. I hope you can take that position. God, you who see my inner being, have you really filled me with the Holy Spirit? What do you say? Only care for that opinion. It will change your life, not only concerning this, concerning everything in your Christian life. Care for one person's opinion. Because I'll tell you this, in the day when Christ returns and we stand at his judgment seat, you will discover only one person's opinion matters. That's why I take that seriously. That's why I live each day as if I'm standing at the judgment seat of Christ. Lord, it's only one person's opinion that matters. And so, here is the standard, the scripture says, I want it and I want the real thing. So I was mentioning these two things, let's go back to John 14. Jesus mentioned that the ministry of the Holy Spirit, first of all, he's going to be with me forever. And first of all, he helps me to keep his commandments. He's going to be with me forever and he's going to be inside me. In the Old Testament, he never came inside anyone. He came upon people. In Judges 6 verse 34, the margin of my Bible says, the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon. Came upon means clothed, clothed means like a shirt, I'm clothed with a shirt, but I can take off the shirt when I go home. And that's how it was in the Old Testament. They have the shirt and then take it off and they put it on again when they need it. But that which is inside is not something I can take off and put on. The Holy Spirit in the New Covenant comes inside. No one in the Old Testament could experience it. Even John the Baptist, when it says he was filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb, it was on the outside. That's why Jesus said, even though John the Baptist is the greatest human being ever born from Adam to Christ, yet the least person who enters into the kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, will be greater than him. Why? Because he's going to have the Holy Spirit within, which even John didn't have. And that's what begins with the new birth. Let me turn you to this verse, John 7, where Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit, though he didn't specifically talk about his coming, he used an expression. In John 7, verse 37 and 38, he said on the last day of the feast, if any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Now there are a number of things we learn from that verse. First of all, this is an individual thing. If anyone, you know, I'm always wary of people who went to some mass meeting and in that emotionally tense atmosphere, they said they got something. Maybe you did, but I don't know whether it was genuine or not. But I've heard other people who say, well, I was alone with God, all alone and praying to him and God met with me. That's more likely to be true. That's what I've encouraged people in our own church, to seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit and the privacy of your own room. You know, when Ananias came and prayed for Peter, or prayed for Paul, sorry, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit and Peter came and prayed for Cornelius. I find this, there's more likelihood of your having a genuine experience when you're seeking God alone to be filled with the Holy Spirit than in the emotionally tense atmosphere of a meeting or what they call revival. In that atmosphere, people can take decisions which are emotional. A lot of that is happening in Christendom today. People ask me, Brother Zach, why don't you give an altar call? I'm not against it. There are a lot of things Christians do. I'm not against it. I'm not here to judge anyone. But I say, I have patterned my life and my ministry after the pattern I see in Jesus and the apostles. I never see him giving an altar call. That's why I never give it. Jesus never said, stand up and come forward. He said, sit down and count the cost. And that's what I say. Please go home, sit down. Don't get up. Please don't get up. Sit down. Count the cost and come back and tell me after a few days whether you want to be a disciple. It's like Abraham. God told Abraham to offer up his son. But he said, don't stand up and say, I'll do it right now. Don't go around the corner and offer up your son. He made him walk three days to Mount Moriah. I mean, if you want to test whether a man loves God or his son, you can test it on the backside of the tent. Why do you have to go around three days to Mount Moriah? Because he wanted Abraham to think about it. Is it worth it serving a God like this who demands my son? Think about it. In the emotion of the moment, Abraham, you may take and offer up your son, but it may not be from your heart. When you think about it for three days and then decide, it's probably going to be real. When I proposed to my wife and painted before her the bleakest picture of what I was going to do in the future, serving God in difficult times, I said, don't decide for three days. Think about it. Because in three days, all the emotion wears out and you begin to face reality. And so if there's a mighty moving of the spirit, I say, okay, think about it three days, sit down, count the cost. That's how Jesus did it. And that's why he got some genuine results than a lot of people who make emotional decisions. There are people who are urged to decide to be a missionary on the spot. How many of you will go to Africa or China? Come forward. Haven't you been in meetings like that? I've seen a lot of these people who come to India. I watched missionaries come to India for so many years and I tell you more than 90% of them I have no respect for. I've seen how they live and I wish you had never crossed the oceans and come to this land to live your defeated life and to show people this third rate Christianity. Is that what you come here to show the Hindus and Muslims, the third rate Christianity, the way you behave here? I wish you'd never come. They were stirred in some meeting, they were told and then once you come forward in a meeting, you always feel guilty after that if you don't go to India or Africa or China after that because you went forward once. This is how the devil gets a hold of people. Dear brothers and sisters, God's not going to be offended if you take three days to take a decision, I'll tell you that. But when you take it, say, Lord, I really mean it. I mean it. So here in John 7, he said, if anyone is thirsty, come to me. Are you thirsty? Come to him. He is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. It's no use going to a man. Come to me. I went to him and he baptized me in the Holy Spirit and fire. I went to him for the gift of prophecy. He gave it to me. I didn't want any cheap counterfeit from any man. I want to say to you, if anyone, think of Jesus standing here and saying, if anyone is thirsty here, come to me. You've got to be thirsty. You've got to be desperate. Like I said, you've got to read the Sermon on the Mount and say, God, I'm thirsty to live this life. This is not a suggestion. This is the type of life I want to live. I really want it, Lord. I'm thirsty. Tell me what it costs. I'll pay the bill. I want it. You know, there are very few people who are thirsty. A lot of people like to have experiences. If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. And I like that expression, drink. Do you know, because that is, a lot of people have made people feel it's so difficult to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, if you're not willing to pay the price, I agree that it'll be perpetually difficult. But if you're willing to pay the price, it's as easy as drinking. Do you know the first thing a baby does without even being taught? You got to teach the baby ABC and 101 other things. But there's one thing you don't have to teach a baby at all. That's to drink. Where does it learn from? Who taught it to drink? It's the easiest thing in the world. It's the first thing a baby does, to drink. It cries out and then drinks. I like that. It's that easy. And if there's a delay, it's because you're not willing to pay the price. Anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. And then, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. And I always used to place the emphasis on the rivers of living water. Rivers of living water. Rivers of living water. Until one day God opened my eyes to see that the main thing in that verse was not rivers of living water. But from his innermost being, or from his belly. From deep within. Which is what made the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant. And in this way, verse 39, the spirit was not yet given. Because Jesus was not yet glorified. That's the meaning. The spirit was not given to people in this way, where he could flow from the innermost being. There were a lot of people who were a tremendous blessing in the Old Testament. I think of the rivers of living water that flowed from Moses. Don't you think he was a blessing to two million people in the wilderness? Think of the rivers of living water that flowed from Joshua. But they were all on the outside. But now, from his innermost being, it's not going to be something God just pours on him and it flows out like that. It's going to be from his own innermost being, because God has done a work inside him. And it's going to flow out. And his ministry is going to be an overflow of his life. Why do we find nowadays, so many preachers, all of a sudden you hear, after they've been preaching 20 years, the guy's been living in adultery. Or in homosexuality. And how is it all these thousands of people who sat in the congregation never sensed that something is wrong with this pastor of ours? Because they don't have discernment. Just because a man is very gifted and can speak very well, they don't question, is this according to scripture? Does he bear witness with my spirit? I mean, I've told people, I was telling somebody the other day, I say, all you've got to do today, even if you don't have any discernment, is to ask yourself one question. What is this preacher's attitude to money? That's enough. You will immediately discern who is of God and who is not. Because that's how we did. What is Jesus' attitude to money? What is Peter's attitude to money? What is Paul's attitude to money? Does this guy have that attitude? If he doesn't, I don't care what type of miracles he says he's doing, I don't want to have any part of it. You see, today people are going around saying, we want an impartation of the spirit that's being poured out over there. I say, no, thank you. I don't want any of that. I want an impartation of the spirit that came from Jesus and the apostles and their Pentecost. That's very important. We're living in days of tremendous deception, which is not surprising, because the Bible, Jesus himself said, take heed that no man deceive you. You know, when they asked him, Lord, what is the sign of the last days? He said, take heed that nobody deceives you, number one. It's not wars and rumors of wars and famines and earthquakes and all the other thing and Israel coming back to the land. That's all comes later. Number one, he said, be careful of deception. What did Paul tell Timothy? The spirit speaks expressly that in the last days, many will fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, 1 Timothy 4, 1. What did he say about the Antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2? His coming will be with the working of Satan, with false signs and wonders and all the deception of wickedness. Those are the days we're living in. I tell you, there's a lot of that deception, particularly in relation to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. That's why we need to be rooted and grounded in scripture. It has to come from the innermost being. And if this guy was a preacher for 25 years, and maybe a lot of people were blessed through Maybe a lot of people were converted. Maybe a lot of people were healed. Think of those people who Jesus said in the last days, many will come to me and say, Lord, Lord, we cast out demons in your name. We did miracles in your name. And he doesn't turn around and saying, you're a bunch of liars, you never did any such thing. He never says that. He says, it's true all that you did, but you never knew me. Because knowing the Lord is an inner thing. You never knew me. It was a ministry you performed. And depart from me, you workers of iniquity. That is the issue in the final day. Were your works, works of iniquity or works of holiness? It's not a question of how many miracles you did. It's so clear at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7, that I'm amazed that people don't see it. Did you live in sin? I don't care how many miracles you did. Depart from me. It's from the innermost being, in the innermost being means the Holy Spirit's first making me holy inside, holy in my heart, my thoughts. And from there, you know, like a jug, you pour water into the jug and it finally it begins to overflow. It overflows and that overflow is what the New Testament calls ministry. Do I believe in ministry? Sure. But it must be the overflow of my life. It fills up within, then overflows. So in the Gospel of John, Jesus spoke about water three times. I want to show you that. First of all, in John 3, he spoke about being born of water. Verse 5, John 3, 5. And there water is just a picture of the Holy Spirit, just like in John the Baptist spoke about the Holy Spirit as being baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire, where fire is a picture of the Holy Spirit. Jesus breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. The breath, wind is a picture of the Holy Spirit. The number of pictures of the Holy Spirit, wind, fire, and here, water, born of the Holy Spirit. Nobody can be born again, really born again without the operation of the Holy Spirit. That is impossible. There is a work that God does inside a person through the Holy Spirit when he's born again. It's called being born of the Spirit, born of water. And at that point, his capacity is like that of a cup. You know, it says in the Old Testament, I lift up the cup of salvation. And that cup is filled. But in chapter 4, Jesus goes one step further and says, verse 14, 4.14. Anyone who drinks of the water that I give him, the latter part of that verse, it'll become in him a spring, inside a spring of water, well of water, springing up into eternal life. Eternal life, by the way, let me explain that, does not mean living forever. Because people who go to hell live forever too. They don't have eternal life. Eternal life is an expression for the life of God. Because the dictionary definition of eternity is not that which never has an end. But that which never had a beginning and never has an end. That's eternity. Never had a beginning, never had an end. So what is eternal life? A life which never had a beginning and never has an end. What life is that? It's a life of God. It's not the life of the angels. It's not the eternal soul which God has put in every human being. People live in eternity in hell. People live in eternity in heaven. But there's only one life in this universe which never had a beginning and never had an end. That is eternal life. So it's another expression for the life of God. It's another expression for the divine nature. That's why Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6.12, lay hold of eternal life. Why should you tell a man who's been a believer for 30 years like Timothy, lay hold of eternal life as if he's not born again? You know, because people haven't understood what eternal life means. It's a gift. But it's not something I can get all of a sudden and have forever. The gift of God is eternal life. But I have to lay hold of it. Paul told Timothy that in 1 Timothy 6.12. And Jesus said in John 17.3, eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. And that's a lifetime thing. You think you can know God in a moment? You can begin to know God in a moment. But Paul said at the end of his life that I may know Him. It's something growing. So laying hold of eternal life is to lay hold of the knowledge of God and I get more and more of His nature. Or like we read earlier in 2 Corinthians 3.18, being transformed into His likeness from glory to glory, where the divine nature gradually takes over. If I were to draw a diagram, every diagram is a poor illustration of truth. But if it helps you to understand it, think of your heart like a black circle. And when you're born again, the Holy Spirit has come. And there's a little white patch, little white circle in the middle of this huge black circle. This black circle is what we call the flesh. And you know that even after you're born again, a lot of manifestations of the flesh that come forth from us. But there is a difference between us and that other fellow who is not converted. We've got this little white circle in the middle. Christ has come in. He hasn't taken possession of the whole life. But little by little, God's will is that that white circle becomes bigger and bigger. This is what the Bible calls sanctification. This is what the Bible calls about being transformed into His likeness by the Holy Spirit from one degree of glory to another, bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And in every born-again person, there is that white circle. If that's not there, it's not born again. You're not born again at all. But how much that circle has grown, that depends on the decisions you have made in your life from the day you were born again. Do you know that you as a Christian are today the sum total of all the little decisions you've made, the moral decisions I mean, not the decisions you've made in business and all, the moral decisions you've made in your life, you are today the sum total of that. And that has determined the size of how much this white has taken over the black. And the Bible says, if you really believe, 1 John chapter 3 verse 2, that one day when He comes, we will be like Him. If you really believe that, it says you will purify yourself to His standard of purity. That's a paraphrase of 1 John 3, 3, purify yourself as He is pure. If you really believe, if you have the blessed hope, for many people the blessed hope is Christ is coming again. That's only half. The full blessed hope in 1 John 3, 2 is He's coming again, and when He comes, I'll be like Him. Don't ever forget that second part. And if you have the full blessed hope that He's coming again, and when He comes, I'll be like Him, what will I do? How do you prove that? Not by arguing about it with others who don't believe in the second coming, no. But by purifying yourself as He is pure, by allowing this white to take over more and more. That's why we need the Holy Spirit, because it's an inward thing. It's not external improvement of our character and our behavior, you know, like we teach our children to say, thank you, say thank you, say sorry. Well, that's all good behavior and it's very good. But this is something deeper than that, it's an inward change. And a man who's experiencing this can't be preaching for 25 years and suddenly be discovered living in adultery, that is impossible. That is all for this superficial type of Christianity, where the emphasis is on the gifts and which builds Babylon. I've discovered through the years, that any church that emphasizes the external behavior and the gifts of the Holy Spirit will end up as Babylon, without a doubt. If you want to build Jerusalem, you got to emphasize the inward and the outward ministry coming from the inward, that will build Jerusalem. Because Jerusalem is pure through and through. You read in Revelation chapter 21, Jerusalem is like a city made of crystal clear glass, you can see through. Most Christians are like the glass in these windows, you can't see what's on the other side. There's something you got to hide inside. That's not Jerusalem, that's Babylon, where you can have so many gifts and impress people. It's the inner life that matters. And so we see here, a well of water springing up to eternal life. This is more than a cup, a well is more than a cup. A well is that which in many of our homes in India, we have a well, where there's no running water in the city. People have a well and if you have a well in your own house, you're a very fortunate person. Many villages they have just one village well, where like the woman of Samaria came to draw water, you have to go there and draw the water. But if you're a rich man, you have a well in your own compound, that satisfies your need, you're not dependent on anybody else. The Holy Spirit comes and gives me something within. You know, in where we live in Bangalore very often, there's a lot of shortage of water that comes down the main line and they turn it off very often because there's not enough water in the tank. And so many days we go without water. But if you have a well in your own compound, nobody can turn off the water, it's there all the times. Like Jesus said, your joy, no one can take away from you. If somebody can take away your joy from you, your source of supply is external, right? It's as simple as that. I remember once when I was traveling in a bus in India, a crowded bus, somebody picked my pocket and when I got on the bus, I didn't have my wallet. But fortunately, my joy was not in my wallet, only my money was there. And so, he could not turn away my joy because that was in my heart. I'll tell you this, keep your joy separate from, don't keep it in the bank and don't keep it in your wallet, let it be in your heart. Nobody can turn off that because it's a well of water springing up. Calamities and problems around can't take away the peace. Nobody can turn off that peace because it's in your heart. And you know, people say, oh, it's because that woman was dressed immodestly and provocatively that I lusted. It's the old habit of Adam, blame somebody else for your sin. The Lord asked, did you do it? Say, Lord, this woman. And the Lord asked, did you lust after that? Did you lust with your eyes? You say, Lord, this woman, it's the way she dressed. It's the old habit of Adam. Do you think Jesus would have walked past that immodestly dressed woman and lusted? No. He's got nothing to do with the way other people, your purity, if it depends on the way other people dress and the other people behave, then brother, you need to have the Holy Spirit inside, I'll tell you that. You need to have something within, a well of water, where nobody can turn off your supply of holiness or purity or peace or joy or love if somebody can behave in a bad way towards you and make you behave in a bad way in return. He succeeded in turning off your love. It was coming in from outside. A lot of Christians, their love comes from outside. You love me, I love you. You scratch my back, I scratch your back. You give me a birthday gift, I'll remember you on your birthday and I'll come with a gift. But Jesus said, love your enemies. It's a love which is completely independent of how that person treats me. It's a well of water inside me. It's not a supply that comes from the town council which they can turn off when they want. Jesus said, this is the second stage and the third stage is in John 7, where this well begins to overflow and flows like not one river but rivers in many directions. And I want to say to you my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus name, the Lord needs you in these last days. Please take what I say seriously. Please take it as a word from the Lord. One of the prayers I pray frequently and I prayed this morning too is, I said, Lord, I want to look inside your heart and I want to get a fellowship with your heart. I want to know what's your burden. When I have to speak to people in my own church or the churches I have responsibility for, I say, Lord, what's in your heart? I want to know that. I want to read the scriptures but what's in your heart at this particular time for these people? And I'll tell you this, we're approaching the end of time. Christ is coming soon and God needs you. He needs you badly because there are so many compromisers, there are so many people who are not hungering and thirsting after Him. So many people are just religious. He wants you, He wants people who are thirsty for Him, who want to have this real Christian life that springs up within and that flows out in blessing to a needy world and where you will not be discovered after 25 years as having been living in adultery or homosexuality for 25 years because it flowed from inside and not only will you be like that, you'll be producing other people like that. Daniel communicated his spirit to those three friends that one day when they were tested and Daniel was not there, when they were asked to bow down to the idol, they said, no, we're not going to do it. Where did they get that spirit from? They didn't have that spirit in the day when they were all compromising at the king's table, eating that forbidden food. How did they all of a sudden get it in chapter 3 which they didn't have in chapter 1 of Daniel? They got it from Daniel. They got it from a man. And God's will is that other people catch your spirit. That well that springs up within you, flows out, challenges other people that they... It flows out like a river and blesses them. In the beginning, it'll be just one river. After a while, it'll be many rivers that can flow through you because Jesus said, if anyone... I remember as a young Christian, I never in my life dreamt that I would have any ministry. I was just thankful that I was saved. I was just thankful that my sins were forgiven. I was thankful that I was going to heaven. But I read about these great men and women of God who accomplished something for the Lord. And I said, Lord, I want to do something for you. I don't want to be famous. No, I'm not interested in fame. Famous for worldly people. I want to do something for you in return for all that you did for me on the cross. That's it. And it's enough if you know about it. I don't want anybody else in the world to know about it. But I want to show my gratitude to you, Lord. This is just between you and me. And I said, Lord, I'm willing to pay the price. And I want to say to all of you, my dear brothers, particularly those who are young here. The Lord has need of you. He wants people who are totally sold out. It doesn't matter. I'm going to let me tell you this too. It doesn't matter how much you have messed up your past life. Once you're cleansed in the blood of Christ, you're justified. Means it is just as if you had not done any of those things in your past life. Justified means just as if I'd never sinned. Now if you can believe that, that's what God's word says. So it doesn't matter how much you messed up your life. It doesn't matter how many wrong things you did. You got to say, Lord, that's all under the blood of Christ. It's blotted out. I'm not even going to think about it. Why should I think about what God has cleansed? What did God tell Peter? What God has cleansed? Don't call unclean anymore. Don't go around talking about all the evil things the devil made you to do in your past life. I don't believe in that type of confession, glorifying the devil. I've heard sometimes Christians giving a testimony. Out of half an hour they'll spend 25 minutes telling you what they did in their past life. Is that a testimony to the glory of the devil or the glory of Jesus Christ? It's exciting. It's good to write novels about that, Christian biographies. But it doesn't glorify God. No. Paul, all he said was, I was the chief of sinners. He doesn't give us any details. Because he was wise. It's good to know that we're chief of sinners. But, Lord, it doesn't matter if you've messed up your life. I want to say to you, the Lord wants you. From this day, say, Lord, I want to be committed. I want this well of water springing up in me. I want rivers of living water to flow out from me. And I want to fulfill your purpose on earth. Let me turn you to Ezekiel. You know, Peter says about how the Old Testament prophets longed for this life. There was a life that the Old Testament prophets longed for and they couldn't have. It says in Ezekiel in chapter 36. Here was a prophecy that Ezekiel made about this new covenant. Jeremiah prophesied about the new covenant. Ezekiel prophesied about the new covenant. They couldn't experience it. Even John the Baptist couldn't experience it. But they looked forward. Hey, a day is coming. Oh, I wish I could experience that. But God says, it's not for you, Ezekiel. It's for another people. You know what? Ezekiel would have been willing to pay to sit in our midst and receive what we can receive today. But he couldn't have it. But he says in Ezekiel 36, this is what the Lord says. Verse 25. Ezekiel 36, 25. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you'll be clean. And I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, from all your idols. It's a picture of the cleansing we have through the blood of Christ. It's the first thing God does for us is cleanse us. That's what a mother does when her little son or daughter comes and says, Mom, give me some water in this cup. And the cup's all dirty. The first thing the mother does is clean up that cup. And that's the first thing God has to do in our heart is to clean up our heart. And that's why we begin with the blood of Christ always. We walk in the light and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness. Then I will give you a new heart. This is inward. The whole thing is inward. And I will put a new spirit. Now, this is not speaking about the Holy Spirit. This is speaking about our spirit. Man is body, soul, and spirit. In the Old Testament, God couldn't touch their spirit. That's why in the Old Testament tabernacle, the three parts, outer court, holy place, most holy place, which corresponded to man's body, soul, and spirit. There was a veil. You couldn't go through there to the most holy place corresponding to man's spirit. God couldn't change a man's spirit in the Old Testament. But he says, now I'll change that spirit inside. I'll give you a new spirit. And I'll remove this hard heart and give you a soft heart. You remember the Pharisees once came to Jesus and said, why did Moses permit, Matthew 19, why did Moses permit divorce in the Old Testament? He says, because your hearts were hard. What it says here, heart of stone. But now, you don't have to divorce your wife now. There's no room for divorce in the New Covenant. I will give you a soft heart. A soft heart is a heart that forgives. It's not hard. It absorbs injuries. It can forgive and forgive and forgive. I will give you. You can't produce it. You can try for a thousand years. You can't produce it. I will remove it and I will give you a soft heart. Ask God for it. If you feel that your heart is hard towards your marriage partner, ask God to give you a soft heart. And then I will put my Holy Spirit within you. In this new spirit, I will put my Holy Spirit within you. And now listen to this wonderful promise. It's one of the most amazing promises in the New Testament, which again quoted in other words in Hebrews chapter 8. I will make you, cause you to walk according to my commandments. And you will be careful to observe my commandments. Who's going to do that? God. And whenever the Bible speaks about God working inside us, it's always referring to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I see this wonderful promise in the New Testament. God makes all things work together for good to those who love him and who are called according to his purpose. That's my heavenly father working outside of me. All the circumstances of my life, all the people who treat me good, treat me bad. God's making it all work together for my good. But then it also says in Philippians 2, that God works inside you to will and to do his good pleasure. That's the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This is why I'm such a blessed person. And if you believe it, you are too. My heavenly father is working outside of me, and the Holy Spirit is working inside of me. What more do I want? God before us, who can be against us? It's a wonderful life, the Christian life, if you open yourself to this and believe it. I will make you from inside walk in my statutes. Can you imagine when Ezekiel prophesied that? He said, Lord, can't you do it for me now? And the Lord said, no. It can't be done till Jesus is glorified. The Spirit was not given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Jesus had to die because no man's heart could be pure enough to receive the Holy Spirit till Jesus had shed his blood. That's why they couldn't have it in the Old Testament. The blood of bulls and goats was only a picture. But once Jesus actually shed his blood, then people's hearts could become clean. The blood of Jesus could cleanse, not just cover. The Old Testament just covered sin. You know, like taking a sheet and covering up all the wrong things you did. You lift up the sheet, you can see it. But when it's cleansed, it's gone. The blood of Jesus cleansed, blotted out. Do you really believe that the blood of Jesus blotted out your past sins completely? That nobody can lift a sheet and discover what you did yesterday or 20 years ago? If you confess your sin, it's gone. It's gone. It's blotted out. The heart is clean. Now God says, in that heart, I'll put my spirit. And when I put my spirit, I will make you. From within, I'll make you walk in my commandments. I praise God for that. You know, the other day, the Lord showed me something, how we keep improving. Even in our... we keep growing in wisdom. And even in the way we express things. The Lord told me from Scripture, it's not from any... I've never heard him with an audible voice. I hear him in my heart, and that's good enough. The Lord said to me, you've been speaking a lot about victory over sin, victory over sin, victory over sin. It's there in Scripture that we must overcome. But the Lord showed me that Scripture says, He is able to keep us from falling. It's not me getting victory over sin, where the emphasis becomes me. But rather, He keeps me from falling. You see the difference in emphasis? And I said, Lord, that's really it. When I say, I get victory over sin, it's almost as though I've accomplished something, gives people the wrong impression. It's not that. He keeps me from falling. He causes me to walk in His statutes. He writes His law in my heart and mind. The glory is His. Why doesn't He do it for everyone? They won't let Him. He says, I'll write it, just like I wrote it on those tablets of stone. I'll write it in your heart. I'll cause you to walk. Will you open your heart to me completely? It's not once for all. It's a daily decision. And this is what it means. You know, when we were singing that song earlier, I was thinking about it. Let my will be lost in thine. Do you remember that? We sang it just now. Draw me nearer. And my will be lost in thine. Every day, I have to make a choice. Not my will, but thine. And as I make that choice, the Lord works inside me and says, Okay, I'll accomplish my will. I have only got to make a choice. Lord, I want your will, not mine. And the Lord works inside me to do that. Let's open our hearts to the Lord. Let's pray.